Amur: Asia's Amazon
The Black Dragon
S1 • E2 Jan 1, 2015
The middle course of the Amur which is called Heilong-jian or Black Dragon River in China, runs through ancient Manchuria and forms a natural border between China and Russia. Until recently, this was a restricted military zone - restricted for humans but a blessing to wildwoods, wetlands, and wildlife. Primeval forests and sprawling wetlands offer habitats to rare species like the Manchurian crane and several of its relatives, white-tailed eagles, soft-shelled Chinese turtles, giant sturgeon and Siberian taimen, Amur leopards and tigers. The border also marks the sharp contrast between Russia's raw wilderness and China's farmland with the continent's biggest and northernmost rice fields.